Author note: Ok... so I KNOW this is the middle of the Sports Festival arc and me posting an omake story that takes place sometime after it makes little to no sense... but here's the reason why I'm doing it...
1: It's a thank you to a person I met online for inspiring me to even create Takumi Sakai to begin with... without her this story would have never existed to begin with...
2. It's currently not even considered canon to the events of this story anyway. While MissEandC (found on Archive of Our Own and on Tiktok) has an amazing MHA OC, I haven't exactly made any long term deals like I have with my friend Bold_Official that allows me to share characters or anything... so Akemi Ito, as amazing of a character as she is, currently cannot be used to the same capacity as say... Bold's Luke Rojas that found his way into The Marvelous Spider-Man or Ramon Aguilar, who became the secondary main character of the Miyagi-Do Karate series, who I am using due to having full permission by Bold... I was given permission to use Akemi for this bonus omake story... so, due to this bonus take being non canon to Iron Man: MHA anyway, I don't see too much of a problem posting this 'thank you' story now. Also I'd have to make some significant changes to make a bonus story like this canon anyway so... either way... it really doesn't matter when I post it.
Now that that's out of the way...
Takumi Sakai/Iron Man in... Costume Studies course?!
Takumi Sakai was running late. And he was also literally running in the halls of UA High! He had promised to study with Kyoka Jirou and Momo Yaoyorozu, and Momo was strict when it came to punctuality on 'study dates'. However, thanks to the deal he made with UA High and the Police Department of Japan when he first transferred into the hero student, Takumi had a burden no one else in Class 1-A shared... he could fight crime in Musutafu City as long as he was operating under a Pro Hero or with the direct permission of the Japanese police department. Often this meant that Takumi's alter ego, Iron Man, was called in on cases where his arsenal of gadgets could come in handy, which was often, as Detective Tsukauchi was trying to rely less on All Might when things got sketchy, due to All Might running out of time that he could stay in his famous buff hero form. And this, ended up being the cause of Takumi's current predicament. Tsukauchi had Iron Man team up with the police for a case that had caused the teenage boy to get back home passed 3 AM, so naturally, Takumi overslept and ignored his wake up alarm.
With a coffee in his hands, Takumi ran as fast as he could when Katsuki Bakugo saw him, and made an explosion in front of him using his quirk! Takumi's coffee spilt everywhere, it was only through sheer luck that Takumi didn't end up with any of the hot liquid on himself... but there went his caffeine hit for the day.
"Morning, Quirkless... looks like Mr. Aizawa is going to have you on janitor duty for the next week." Bakugo taunted. Takumi was too tired to deal with Bakugo nicely. He started to commence a partial armor activation, making sure he'd shoot Bakugo with a repulser blast for what he had done, only for Bakugo to be wrapped up in some threads.
'Threads of some kind... what in the world?' Takumi thought as he stopped his partial armor activation sequence and noticed someone who he'd never seen before make their way to the two teens. It was a woman wearing a yellow dress with sunflowers on it.
"Bakugo, you know we don't tolerate bullying here in UA. After I release you, you're heading straight to the principal's office." The woman who approached them said sternly. Bakugo grumbled but didn't argue. She was a teacher of some sort, or at least that's what Takumi assumed by Bakugo's uncharacteristic lack of effort in trying to defy her.
"Wait, we got a new teacher?" Takumi asked.
"Yeah, it happened when you spent a whole week out with the police as Iron Man, you damn useless extra!" Bakugo yelled. Takumi sighed, remembering how, last week, the X-Men came to him for help in locating Charles Xavier after he was kidnapped... it had been a long week. The week that caused Momo to offer to tutor him to begin with.
'THAT'S RIGHT! Momo!!' Takumi thought in horror.
"I'm late... Momo is going to kill me!" Takumi sighed before he realized he recognized the person who had just stopped Bakugo and him from fighting.
"Wait... aren't you Fast Fashion? The Pro Hero who can produce threads from your fingers?" Takumi asked. The woman nodded, though what intrigued Takumi about this strange first meeting is how sad the woman looked about the blown up coffee. To be fair, it was a waste of perfectly good coffee.
"So... what was the coffee for?" Fast Fashion asked curiously as she looked at Takumi. The blonde haired boy sighed.
"I was working with the police to catch the villain known as the Juggernaut... dude refused to go down and we stayed up past 3 in the morning to catch that guy. I swear I really gotta finish making that Hulkbuster armor." Takumi replied. That's when Akemi Ito, the alter ego of Fast Fashion, realized who she was talking to. It was Class 1-A's newest student and the first quirkless hero student. The one who was once a famous vigilante, given a chance at legal heroism after he had rescued Principal Nezu from being assassinated and then later was vouched for by Tensei Iida, otherwise known as Ingenium. (*Iron Man: My Hero Academia Season 1 Episodes 3 and 4 respectively) Akemi realized she would have met this boy later today since he would be integrated into her new costume studies course today. She gave him a small smile and handed him a coffee from a belt she wore, holding multiple cans of coffee.
"I don't do this a lot, but you look like you need it and heroes support each other. Now come on, I'll walk with you and explain everything to Ms. Yaoyorozu so she doesn't get too angry at you." Akemi assured Takumi, who gratefully took the coffee. Little did anyone know, the situation at hand was being watched over by Toshinori Yagi, better known as All Might (who was currently in his normal, not buff form) who smiled. He was very impressed by the way Akemi handled the situation between Takumi and Bakugo.
Later:
After some intense hero training, the students of Class 1-A were instructed to bring their costumes to Akemi's class to learn how to repair the costumes themselves, should the need ever arise for them to do that. Everyone did as they were told, except for Takumi... or so it seemed.
"Sakai, where is your costume? I'm sure you need to fix a few things with it after training today." Akemi pointed out politely as Takumi had a look of panic on his face.
'This was supposed to be a costume studies class... right?! HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CLASS?!' Takumi thought in a panic.
'Just relax and tell her that your costume isn't like everyone else's. She seems reasonable enough.' Spirit Tony suggested in his head. Takumi fought the urge to nod his head at what the ghostly mentor, that no one else could currently see or hear, said.
"Yeah... about that... my costume isn't made of fabric..." Takumi explained as he pressed the activation button on his wristband. The Iron Man armor assembled itself onto Takumi before everyone's very eyes, and that's when Akemi remembered... this particular student was quite different than everyone else. Of course his costume was more of a support lab project! His name was Iron Man for crying out loud! How could she have forgotten?! Then she had an idea.
"I can give you one of my old hero costumes so you can participate in the class. Now today we are going to learn how to sew so we can repair our costumes." Akemi told Iron Man before he deactivated the armor, and the unarmored Takumi Sakai took a seat between Izuku Midoriya and Tsuyu Asui.
"Thank you very much for your kindness, ma'am." Takumi told her.
Flashback:
When Akemi Ito was hired by Nezu to do a costume studies course at UA, Nezu had Akemi read over the files of the students she would be teaching. The files were quite extensive, including video files of training they had undergone throughout the year so far... and Akemi didn't fail to notice that the file of Takumi Sakai was much longer than anyone else's.
When Akemi grabbed the file, she wondered what would make his file more extensive than the others. When she opened it, it started out the same as others.
Name: Takumi Sakai
Age: 15
Quirk: None
Course: Hero
Class: 1-A
Powers: None, but has intelligence to make armored suits that can rival even the most dangerous villains and Pro Heroes.
Interesting to note: The Sakai family is a name connected to an old organization... The Assassin Order for Quirkless Defense. These Assassins have been said to utilize weapons that can temporarily nullify quirk usage. Takumi Sakai had been trained by the Assassin Order at a young age, but his mind was wiped after the death of his father, Assassin head Masanori Sakai, by the mechanisms of The Mandarin. Not much is known about the Mandarin, although if sources can be believed, he may be one of the most dangerous villains to ever live.
She played a video, and suddenly she saw footage that was being filmed by some kind of drone. It was being filmed during some incident involving a arms dealer named Magnum and a shady organization called AIM. (The Shadow of the Panther arc of Iron Man: My Hero Academia Season 2) There was a child being held hostage by a group of criminals. The kid was yelling for help.
"SHUT UP KID! THE BLACK PANTHER WILL COME AND THEN WE'LL BE ALL DONE WITH YOU!" One of the criminals yelled before he let out a explosive warning towards the kid using his quirk.
"NO USING QUIRKS NEAR THE KID!" One of the other thugs yelled. Then Akemi watched as smoke started to fog the building, making it difficult to see, even in the footage.
"Hey... is Shunsuke smoking again?" One of the thugs asked before a figure wearing a white hood, Takumi, who for some reasons was not in his Iron Man armor, slowly walked by, putting on a metal glove rumored to be used by the Assassin Order to help hostler their hand to hand combat skills. Takumi punched the nearest thug in the face, knocking him out. The thug landed on the ground with a loud thud.
"What was that?" One of the other criminals asked when one of his comrades yelled "I CAN'T USE MY QUIRK!" The smoke started to clear and Takumi was shown in his Assassin garb. The criminals all gave Takumi a look of fear.
"IT'S THE ASSASSIN ORDER! THE SECRET DEFENSE OF THE QUIRKLESS! I THOUGHT THEY WERE A MYTH!" One of the criminals yelled when Takumi smirked and punched him in the face. What Akemi witnessed next... was a battle in which Takumi seemingly effortlessly took down his opponents, at one point using a hidden blade in his wristband to slash at a few of his opponents.
At one point in the battle, Takumi was tackled into an empty room, and the drone followed. Akemi witnessed Takumi stab the criminal with a knife. Takumi was fighting to survive... but he seemed unafraid. When Takumi pulled the knife out of the man, who afterward, leaped away, Takumi did something that surprised Akemi.
"I'm sorry about that." Takumi replied with remorse before he punched the criminal in the face. Another criminal tried to charge at him, but Takumi noticed a disconnected microwave in the room and tossed it at the thug, who fell into the drone and stopped the footage. Although, there was a message at the end of the footage.
'Entertain me more- M'
Akemi didn't know what to make of this, then she put on another video... it was a video of the USJ attack. Iron Man had his armor in crowd control mode, and he was fending off a small army of villains on his own. But soon, this footage also cut off with a message. 'I'll be watching you more closely..... M'.
Soon the footage switched and there was Principal Nezu.
"Hello Ms. Ito. I left this message specifically for you, because if you are going to be a teacher here, you need to know what has been going on with the students here. I have yet to inform Takumi Sakai, but we have been discovering lots of footage of him with hidden messages for him. We have no idea who this M is... we believe it could be The Mandarin himself, although we are unsure of that. What we know... someone with dark intentions has been watching Sakai... and If you intend on teaching here, I ask that you keep a close eye on him. There is no reason to suspect he's in immediate danger... but I can't help but think... something or someone will be coming for him soon." Nezu warned Akemi.
Present day:
When Akemi was teaching her class, she didn't see anything off putting about the boy. Takumi Sakai seemed to get along great with his classmates, minus Bakugo, and he seemed like a cheerful kid.
Months later:
The more time passed... the more distant Takumi Sakai was... his classmates didn't seem to notice... he acted the same around them... but his eyes started to look less like a kid and more like a soldier's. His smiles that had once been bright and full of life were clearly faked... faked well enough to fool his classmates... but not her. Every day, Akemi Ito noticed the light in Takumi Sakai's eyes go out... every time it was on the news that Iron Man and the Mandarin battled on the news, it felt like a piece of Takumi's soul was lost in the battle... and the boy who was here now... was someone who was losing his faith in people... in the idea that good existed. Whatever he had been doing as Iron Man, was being kept inside of him and left to stew...
"SAKAI!" Mina Ashido's voice yelled, getting the blonde to get out of his thoughts. The boy had earbuds in and he was wearing new glasses of some kind... some kind of tech base glasses.
"Huh... sorry, Mina. What did you need?" Takumi asked as he gave Mina a fake, but friendly smirk.
"I was asking if everyone wanted to hit the movies together. I know how you and Midoriya have been wanting to see All Might 3 since the trailer came out months ago." Mina told the boy. Takumi looked like he was not sure how to answer.
"I..." Takumi started to say before the bell rang and Class 1-A started to leave.
"Let me know next period." Mina told Takumi, who nodded at her.
"Takumi Sakai, stay here for a bit. We need to talk." Akemi told Takumi, surprising the boy. Had he done something wrong? As the rest of the class left, all that was left in the room was Takumi and Akemi.
"Is there something you need, Ms. Ito?" Takumi asked. Akemi tried not to wince as he called her that. As fellow All Might fanatics, Takumi used to call her 'Ms. Akemi'... that was before he started to search for the Makluan Rings... before the Mandarin became such a presence in his life... before whatever Takumi was trying to protect everyone from started to take his soul.
"Are you doing okay? You seem... sad." Akemi told him. Takumi sighed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her anything or not. But then... Takumi passed out.
"Kid... kid... wake up... wake up!!" A new voice yelled... but Akemi was in such shock it never registered that she was hearing a voice without a body.
Later:
Takumi woke up in Recovery Girl's office, where he noticed that Akemi was there... and she didn't look too happy. That's when Takumi noticed he didn't have a shirt on... or a specialized patch he created to hide something... new in his body... an arc reactor in his chest... keeping him alike like it did Tony Stark all those years ago in the other world. (Since this IS a non canon side story, might as well embrace the angst I'm feeling. ~Sage)
"Sakai... what is that?" Akemi asked as she pointed at the arc reactor in his chest.
"An electromagnet and specialized heart implant. It's the same kind of reactors that power my Iron Man suits... only this thing now keeps me alive after I got into a scrap with Magneto who sent multiple shards of metal in the direction of my heart. The damn implant must have run out of energy... so... I have no idea how I'm alive right now." Takumi explained. Akemi shook her head.
"Midoriya saved you. He knew exactly how to change the 'battery' of your implant. I'm no scientist... but I can tell those blue lines going all over your chest is not normal." Akemi pointed out as she pointed at him again. Recovery Girl shook her head.
"It's because the fool has been using a palladium core. A short term cure, but it's been poisoning the blood in his veins. The blue lines you see are the effect of the poison making it's slow spread across his body." Recovery Girl explained with a look of disapproval, but she knew if he didn't do what he did, he'd already be dead.
"I'm dying, Ms. Akemi... so I'm trying to do everything I can to end things with the Mandarin and then maybe... maybe when I finally go, I will have been able to make the world a bit of safer place. Sure the League of Villains will be around... but UA doesn't have to fight two wars." Takumi explained. Akemi shook her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What in the world are you mixed up in?" Akemi asked.
"Some ancient war between a secret villain mafia called the Tong and a secret order of Assassins who are quirkless... mostly. Imagine learning that your dad was actually a quirkless vigilante, who trained his own kid at a young age... in the hopes that I can save everyone... only for my memories to be erased... and my life that I have started believing in was a lie... imagine being such a screw up that you have to poison yourself to extend your life just like your mentor did... and now I wonder if Mr. Stark made a mistake choosing me to be the Iron Man of this world... how the hell can I be a hero when I can't even save myself?" Takumi asked. Akemi sighed. The whole situation was much deeper than she expected. What did he mean by 'this world'? Who was 'Mr. Stark'? Akemi decided to put those questions in the background of her mind for now to focus on the depression she saw building in her student now.
"You be a hero by making your present define you... not your past. I won't pretend I know much about the Tong or Assassins or whatever... but what I do know is that you are still here now... and you can't stop fighting to live. I have a friend... named Toshinori... I call him Toshi and we talk a lot about you... he tells me that you are a kid who puts others before himself... and I know you want to be a Symbol for people... similarly to the Symbol of Peace... and I can't let that die now. You need to keep fighting to find a way to reach that dream." Akemi told him. Takumi sighed.
"What's the point? The element that saved Mr. Stark's life is impossible to synthesize in this world... it doesn't exist." Takumi pointed out. Akemi shook her head.
"Doesn't mean there isn't another way. Maybe you need to get help. Everyone needs help once in a while... even All Might, and he's the Number 1 hero." Akemi reminded Takumi. Takumi nodded as he remembered how he had managed to help All Might back during the USJ incident.
"Yeah... you're right." Takumi replied with a small, hopeful smile. Akemi put a hand on his hair and messed with it a bit.
"Ok, so go on and give me your best I am here!" Akemi instructed her fellow All Might fan.
"I AM HERE!" Takumi yelled. The two All Might fans laughed and some brightness returned to those gold eyes of his.
A month later:
An arc reactor was put in a glass case. Akemi looked at it, and she felt mixed feelings when she saw it. On one hand, the device had been keeping Takumi alive... on the other hand it had been killing him... now...
"Are you going to keep staring at that thing forever or are you going to check my latest costume repair assignment?" The voice of Takumi Sakai asked her with a smirk on his face.
There he saw... the formerly depressed teenager who was almost on his own death bed... no longer with an arc reactor in his chest after he had accidentally been given a serum called Extremis... a serum that healed Takumi and ensured that he would continue to live on and on.. or it was officially an accident... Nick Fury owed Akemi one and Fury decided to test the serum on Takumi on the off chance it could save him... which it did. Akemi shook herself out of her thoughts before she nodded.
"Yeah, I'll grade your work. Don't get so impatient." Akemi replied as Takumi walked over to her classroom's coffee machine and made himself some coffee.
"It's still not fair that Sakai is the only one allowed to get some of your coffee Ms. Ito!" Mineta complained, but since it was Mineta who said it no one really payed much attention to it.
"Interesting... All Might has a closeness with Midoriya... Fast Fashion has a closeness with Sakai... is Sakai.... Fast Fashion's secret love child?" Todoroki whispered to himself as he started to write down the conspiracy on paper.
"Hey class. Remember that tomorrow is the day everyone gets to come to classes dressed like a Pro Hero they admire, although you are all encouraged to modify the looks of these pros to put in your own style as well." Akemi told the class. Takumi smiled.
The next day:
Akemi, Midoriya, and Bakugo all got into some three way Spider-Man pointing meme style pose all they all came dressed as All Might. When Takumi arrived at school however, people were surprised. Most had expected him to be All Might like Midoriya and Bakugo... especially because he was such an All Might fan boy like Midoriya was. But instead Takumi was wearing a costume he had sewn himself. He wore a black top, although it had long sleeves, black pants, and fingerless gloves. The shirt had some red details to it the way Akemi's hero costume as Fast Fashion did.
People saw Takumi and looked at him in shock. No one expected this.... but Takumi knew why he decided to do this... he was going to show Akemi who much he appreciated the fact that she went so far as to call Nick Fury to save his life... a life that Takumi had thought was over once the poison started to cover his body... and now... he didn't even need an arc reactor in his chest to survive anymore... it was like the old days again. Akemi had saved his life.... And his dream of being a hero.
"Hey, Ms. Akemi!" Takumi called over to her. He suddenly felt shy as she turned to look at him. Would wearing an outfit based on her hero costume, but made more appropriate for a male, be considered ridiculous? When Akemi turned to see Takumi, she realized what he was wearing... he was wearing something based on her... and he was showing his support for her!
She hugged him, not expecting to be chosen as an admirable figure for anyone today! Takumi blushed in embarrassment since he wasn't used to having anyone be very affectionate to him. When she let him go, Takumi put his hand to his face in a thinking pose.
"So... I think you approve. I... I sewed it myself so it may not be perfect or anything..." Takumi muttered but Akemi smiled.
"It's really great. I'm so happy you look up to me. You made my whole day." Akemi replied.
"Yeah well. Last month you were the one who convinced me not to give up and die so... it's hard not to admire someone who would even save someone who is already at death's door. You saved me.... Iron Man... my dream. Of course I'd admire anyone who would go so far." Takumi pointed out. Suddenly the two heard someone crying in the background.
"Dang it, Young Midoriya! You crying at this has me crying!" Toshinori said as Takumi realized they watched the whole scene play out. Takumi facepalmed.
"I'll never hear the end of this..." Takumi mumbled, although he did laugh at the situation... a genuine laugh... one that Akemi had come to miss over the months when he was being distant.
"You see... It has to be secret love children season!" Todoroki yelled.
"SHOTO ENOUGH WITH THAT!" Iida yelled.
Author note... again: Well... this certainly isn't the same omake story line as the one originally shared on Instagram... but I felt more angsty this time so it just leaked in... but who knows... maybe this version might work better in the long run... Idk. Anyway. Thanks EandC for inspiring the creation of Takumi to begin with. If you didn't share Akemi with the world via Tiktok and your own story, I don't know if I would have ever found the courage to write an MHA story to begin with.